Cal North Recap of US Youth Soccer Region IV Presidents Cup

Sitting in the Denver International Airport writing the final Presidents Cup report.

Unfortunately all three of our teams lost in the championship games but I’m happy to report that our teams were certainly deserving of the finalist spots. The first game of the day for Cal North involved the Sunnyvale Top Gun Red U14 Girls. They were awesome! The game remained 2-2 at the end of regulation and throughout OT. PKs went to the 6th round of kickers before it was decided. Everyone expected the Cal South team to walk over our girls but Top Gun gave Cal South all they could handle. Next on the schedule was the U17 girls game between our Redding Missfits Bandits and Colorado but the game was deadlocked at 1-1 forcing OT. With only 3 subs and playing a game at altitude every day finally took its toll and Colorado scored two OT goals. The last match of the day for Cal North was the U13 Boys SF Vikings Barbarians Red. Their nemesis CAPO FC Blue scored quickly and after Barbarians tied it up, CAPO put the game out of reach for good when they scored the two more unanswered goals.

All of the Cal North representatives were impressed with the caliber of the players and even the teams that didn’t move out of prelims were evenly matched with the other states. There were very few blowouts in the event. We spent some time helping the Region IV set up some of the award for the championship ceremonies. It was a pleasure to be involved in awarding our teams their medals and trophy.

On Saturday night we had the pleasure of hosting the group dinner for the Cal North staff and referees. What a great group of people! Spending time with them and getting to know more about them was delightful. A good time was had by all.

Thanks again for allowing me to assist our teams and help demonstrate to our players and their families that our service is what sets us apart from the other organizations and for letting them see that Cal North is not just a name…it’s a collection of knowledgeable individuals who are dedicated to making our members soccer experience as good as it can be.

Saturday June 15, 2012 Recap

Today was a gratifying day for Cal North. With 8 teams moving into the quarterfinals we hoped for some favorable results. We were pleasantly surprised that 5 of the 8 teams advanced to semifinals. After U13 boys quarters we knew we were guaranteed to have at least one team in championships as the two Cal North teams would face each other in one of the semifinal games.

We had a lightning delay on Friday. We had one semifinal game go to PKs on Saturday. We had one of our players taken to the hospital by ambulance to get 12 stiches to close a nasty gash on his head and we can report that he is OK. The best news of all is that 3 of the 5 Cal North teams in semifinals won their matches and will represent our association in championships tomorrow.

I’ve been tweeting the game results so that our fans can follow the Cal North results on Twitter or Facebook.

We shared a wonderful evening with the referee delegation and got to know some of the up and coming referees as well as reacquainting ourselves with the veteran referees.

Mark Dickerson and Debra Carlton are soaking up information that may be useful for Presidents Cup Nationals. Kurt Barthel, Sue Lankford and I have made sure that the teams know we are at their games and we’ve made an effort to interact with the parents so they understand Cal North supports their players.

It’s been a wonderful experience being able to help show the families what is so great about being a part of Cal North, Region IV and US Youth Soccer. Thank you for allowing me to help spread the message of our mission.